Maybe I am
by Andi-Rei
Summary: You're acting weird." She mumbled.... Shikamaru hummed, "Maybe I am." Too bad that was only the beginning.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, or these characters.

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He was an idiot. A moron. An ignoramus boob with a high probability of having a mental deficit.

And he had a ridiculously large handicap when it came to women.

Actually, Shikamaru was just plain stupid with anything regarding the female species. The man knew nothing! Plus, he was irritatingly lazy too, like when he stretched out his long limbs across his usual spot with his hands pillowed comfortably behind his head, while his half lidded eyes passed the time watching clouds roll by. Then the lazy ass would take a well deserved nap, as if he had actually exerted energy!

Stupid deer boy.

Ino shifted her body uncomfortably, alternating between folding her hands over her stomach and locking them underneath her head. Until she unfolded them all together and placed them at her sides where she would pull at the grass beneath them. Then she would start the process all over again, sometimes moving her legs as well, bending one or both. She could not keep still.

Ino tried concentrating on the clouds hovering above her, she really did! She was determined to find out what her companion found so damn interesting about their, almost marshmallow like, fluffy whiteness. What pleasure could he possibly get out of watching those stupid clouds?

"What a pain." Shikamaru mumbled, "Why do you need to know something like that?"

"W-what?!" Ino looked at him sharply, her heart beating a little faster in her chest.

He let out a derisive snort, a sure sign of his annoyance. "The reason why I like watching clouds."

She pushed herself up into a sitting position, giving him a disgruntled look. Shikamaru was constantly twelve steps ahead of her and it was starting to grate on her nerves, just a little bit. Was she really that predictable? Sure, he supposedly had an IQ of over two hundred and maybe he could be considered a genius at times. And perhaps they had been friends of sorts before their ninja training days, but that did not account for times like these. When he could anticipate her question before she even said it!

Why was that anyways?

"Because you're a pain in the ass." Shikamaru sighed. "And you keep mumbling your questions out loud. It's getting annoying."

Presumptuous little F— !

A hand placed itself firmly over her mouth large, weathered, and tanned so unlike her own; the sun-kissed warmth of it seeped into her skin and made her lips tingle.

"Kiss your father with that mouth?"

She wanted to hit him. Ino, god or whatever entity existed help her, wanted to smack him twelve ways to Sunday and maybe into next Thursday too. Actually, the latter of the two sounded more appealing. Still, it really irked her, saying something like that, it absolutely got under her skin.

Not in an appealing way either.

But like the way a kunai bit unpleasantly into the sides of her mouth as she pursued her target, which was not so bad. But the metallic aftertaste of blood always remained in her mouth hours after it was removed. Ino frowned, her brows creasing thoughtfully together, Shikamaru was like that wasn't he? No matter when he left, his remnants always lingered, filling the air around her long after he had gone.

Ino removed his hand from her dry lips and pushed herself onto her feet, the truth of those thoughts were as comforting as they were scary and Ino did not want to deal with those kind of wavering emotions around someone as perceptive as Shikamaru. It was extremely embarrassing, realizing that you need someone around, no matter how often that person irritated you. Ino needed Shikamaru like a flower needed water and that was enough to make the loud, bossy woman blush demurely and run away. Or at least try to.

Shikamaru caught her ankle with one strong hand and pulled sharply on it until she fell gracelessly onto the grass with an indignant cry. Ino inhaled deeply, having had the wind knocked out of her, and rolled onto her back to glare heatedly at her companion who, much to her chagrin, planted himself firmly across her stomach. Then he leaned in close, pokerfaced, examining her flushed face before he raised one tanned hand and flicked her forehead.

"Shikamaru, What the hell?!" Ino groused.

He sighed, long and low, and flicked her again. Her small hand flew up to her forehead this time, "Ouch. That really hurt." She whimpered, a little, trying to sooth her wound.

His lips quirked and then, silently, he removed the hand on her forehead and tenderly kissed the spot he'd just flicked. Temporarily driven speechless, Ino stared wide eyed as Shikamaru slowly pulled away from her and stood.

Pushing herself up right, Ino bit her lower lip hard in an attempt to steady her racing heart. It was not like it was a kiss on the lips but that small gesture from Shikamaru was enough to set Ino on edge. Being gentle and sweet, around her, was not like him at all. She was quickly figuring out that this new Shikamaru was terribly confusing.

Speaking of which, Ino looked up at her companion as another mono-toned sigh escaped his lips. In that lackadaisical way that was solely Shikamaru, he stuffed his hands deep into his pockets, turned around and took several steps ahead of her.

"Shikamaru! Where are you going?! Get back here!" Ino yelled, jumping to her feet with all of the grace she possessed as a kounochi.

"Man, women are so troublesome." His reply was low and half muttered, but she heard him with such perfect clarity that his response made her eye tick with agitation. That was so uncalled for, she thought, and you're not going to get away with it.

Ino ran after him, her speed continued to build as she made her way down the small hill, and spun Shikamaru forcefully around to face her with one hand while she tried to punch his gut with the other. True to his newly acquired jounin rank, Shikamaru easily caught her fist and jerked her arm sharply up above her head. Ino grunted and gave the handsome Nin an icy stare, "You're an Idiot."

His brows rose and his head tilted to one side thoughtfully, a brilliant guy like him an idiot? His lips curled at one side, the idea was in all actuality kind of funny. Without permission his left hand released her wrist and his fingers intertwined themselves with her raised hand. Slowly, he lowered their laced digits to dangle intimately between them.

Ino felt the anger deflate from her like a punctured balloon. His actions were doing strange things to her, making her heart ache and flutter inside her chest. It was too much for the blonde woman, all these new intimate gestures were making her head reel and her stomach twist into a series of knots. What the hell was he doing?

She looked sternly into his brown eyes, "Stop it." Ino demanded, proud of herself for not sounding as breathless as she felt at the moment.

Shikamaru let a rare smile show itself on his face, "Stop what?" He whispered, innocently, lowering his head so that his eyes were level with hers.

Ino fidgeted uncomfortably and looked away from him with a soft pink blush coloring her cheeks. "You're acting weird." She mumbled. He was too close; Ino could pick up the faint sent of dry grass and dirt lingering on his skin. But the sent, albeit somewhat different, was intoxicating and had a sweetness to it that calmed and soothed her at the same time.

"Hmm" Shikamaru hummed, "Maybe I am."

Ino's eyes snapped sharply up to meet brown. Her heart swayed like a wild flower caught in a breeze and Shikamaru's hand softly squeezed her own. No words were exchanged between them, but Ino understood exactly what the jounin was asking her. His question wasn't in his eyes but the soft rhythmic squeezing of his hand in hers.

Ino sighed and let her blue eyes flutter close, "Okay." She whispered.

Shikamaru, had to smile to himself, this is what he had been waiting for, her quiet acceptance. He kissed her forehead, then, the tip of her nose, and then, he gently kissed her full lips like a familiar lover would. When he pulled away her cheeks were flushed but her eyes were fiercely questioning his own, Idiot, why did you stop?!

Shikamaru laughed, "You're mumbling your questions out loud again and you still want to know why I like watching clouds right?"

Ino stared at the handsome man in front of her blankly for some time. If there was any doubt in her mind before there certainly wasn't any more, he was an idiot. They had a moment, a rather nice one, and now he was going to pop the metaphorical intimate bubble surrounding them, because he felt like answering a stupid question like that? She was beyond pissed, Ino was livid.

Her teeth ground together uncomfortably, "Shikamaru…"

Always the tactical one, Shikamaru interrupted her, "You're like the clouds."

"What?" Ino physically felt her anger drain from her and went slack jawed. She was like a cloud? Was that supposed to be a backhanded compliment? Knowing Shikamaru, it probably was intended to be one. How unromantic.

"You're always changing and you can't keep still." He continued, rubbing his strong hands soothingly up and down her arms, "Your emotions are out for the world to see and it's hard to look away from you. Ino, You're the clouds to my sky, without you there my life would be dull."

Ino grinned, that had to be the cheesiest thing she had ever heard. Still, it made her heart warm. "You're acting weird again." Ino teased him, trying for lightness.

His hands stilled on her shoulders, "I know." He groaned, "Being in love is such a drag."

Even though he was complaining, Ino could tell he was genuinely happy. "Awe, Shika." She cooed, "Are you in love with me?"

Her playful blue eyes challenged him, dared him to join her intimate lovers game and who was he to deny her? Shikamaru let his hands slip to her petite waist and pulled her closer to him, "Are you Ino? Are you in love with me?" He mimicked her, whispering gruffly in her ear.

She smiled and leisurely wrapped her hands around his neck, "Maybe I am." Ino murmured, and let herself be caught by Shickmaru's strong breeze.

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**A/N:** Woot! For writing just over three pages worth, I never get that far with my one-shots. ;D

Oh wow. This took forever to write! I started this almost a year ago, forgot about it, then found it and decided to finish it and post it. There is something I absolutely love about this one-shot, can't quiet pin-point what it is, but I hope you like it too. Review if you'd like! Also, I tried to keep the characters IC but... I failed.

Also some side stuff: I wanted to play with the idea that Ino was like the clouds and Shika simuliar to the sky. About the last line, if you caught my refference to one of my earlier lines kudos for you! If not, here it is: _Her heart swayed like a wildflower in the breeze._ So, Shikamaru is the breeze that swayed Ino's flower(her heart) or in the last lines case caught it?

Thank you for reading! :D

P.S. Sorry for any grammatical/punctuation errors.


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